Green Arrow #41Review

Green Arrow has seen quite a few creative shifts since 2011, and the result has definitely been a mixed bag giving fans both exhilarating highs and disappointing lows. Issue #41 gives fans yet another creative shift, but fortunately it appears that this will be considered another high for the series. Benjamin Percy’s debut issue has much in common with Jeff Lemire’s celebrated run with a tone that feels quite similar. However, the biggest shift may come in the form of the genre itself, as Percy successfully turns Green Arrow into a horror title.

The first thing readers may notice about this issue is that, in many ways, this feels like a direct sequel to Lemire’s beloved run on the title. The very serious, real-world tone used so well by Lemire is ever-present in Percy’s debut issue. This tone obviously works well with this title, but Percy adds an interesting new layer on top of this by essentially turning the book into what seems like a horror story. There’s a sense of dread and unease throughout the issue that works remarkably well at teasing our new villains. Beyond that, Percy smartly brings back several supporting characters used in the previous runs which gives it a good sense of continuity with what’s come before. The only problem some fans may have is how poetic Ollie has become all of a sudden. Some of the narration just doesn’t quite fit with how we might expect Ollie to think, but it does work well for establishing and maintaining the overall mood of the story.

Patrick Zircher brings to the title a style that is wholly appropriate for Percy’s tone and horror elements. He depicts a very real world where the impossible can and does happen. His shadowy layouts perfectly add to the tension building in Percy’s scripts.

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Amazing

Green Arrow #41 sees a creative shift resulting in another exciting high for the series and a switch to horror.